Foul Play Beneath Anchorduck!
by Mario Quade
Summary: While Scrooge, Donald and Launchpad inspect one of Scrooge's oil rigs, trying to figure out why a discovery made there was kept from Scrooge, Della and the kids tour the city of Anchorduck. What they don't know, F.O.W.L. is on their trails and willing to make the first strike to end clan McDuck.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a four-part story. It definitely is going to go in a completely different direction than the show will, at least I doubt that I somehow had the same ideas as Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones had. Depending on the feedback I might very well write a continuation, I certainly have some more ideas for further DuckTales stories. I hope you'll enjoy this story and if you do, or even if you don't, please leave a review. Criticism, especially contructive one, is always welcome.**

**Disclaimer: DuckTales is owned by Disney.**

"We're about to land in Anchorduck. Please be seated," Della said into the microphone of the Cloud Slayer.

"I thought I was responsible for the in-flight announcements," Launchpad asked confused. The large drake sat next to her on the co-pilot seat, mainly looking out of the window to either ogle the landscape or making sure that they were still actually in the air. This had been what Della told him to do on their first flight together and as she had quickly gotten to realise, Launchpad did as he was being told – no matter if it made sense or not.

"And you did make announcements during the flight, but the final announcement about the landing should always come from the pilot," Della explained patiently, swallowing down her desire to groan and tell Launchpad to grow up already. He was a nice duck after all and she didn't want to insult him. Despite being rather simple he had his heart in the right place and cared for her and her family. He was a good friend, that was something she had to admit, even though he could get annoying sometimes.

The most annoying he had been in recent weeks was when it came to the topic of Penny. He had taken an instant liking to her after she had saved the world by crashing the Spear of Selene into Lunaris's control ship. Typical Launchpad, they had all thought. But he hadn't stop pestering Penny until she had agreed to go out with him and he hadn't stopped pestering Della about tips on how to woe Penny. Della had of course told him that she couldn't really help him with that since she had no idea what Penny's romantic interests were.

What made it even more annoying was Penny asking her for advice on how to get rid of Launchpad without killing him. Again, not something Della was particular good in giving advice at. Mainly because she had tried to let down Launchpad gently before when it came to flying and it wasn't an easy task because he could be so god damn dense sometimes that he wouldn't even get the broadest hint in the history of broad hints.

The voice of air traffic controller pulled her out of her thoughts. "This is Anchorduck International Airport, Tower 3. Sunchaser, you have approval for landing. We've assigned you to landing runway four. Please follow our instruction."

"Roger that," Della replied, groaning inwardly that the plane was still officially called Sunchase. She had begged Uncle Scrooge to rename the plane to Cloud Slayer, the name of her old plane, resulting in him telling her that if she wanted to do so she could – but only if she was the one filling all the necessary paperwork for the responsible government agencies. Not something Della had any interest in doing herself. Still, she would have loved if the plane she piloted had the name she wanted it to have.

One of the things Della had learned since getting stranded one the Moon for a decade and then finally returning to Earth was swallowing her pride. And that was exactly what she did now by just focusing on bringing the plane down safely.

After she had accomplished this task and gotten a clearing from the tower, she turned around to tell her passengers that they could now disembark but of course that was unnecessary. The kids were already out of their seats, jumping up and down from their excitement to get out of the plane, and Scrooge was right there with the. "Open the hatch already," he shouted to Della, who just rolled her eyes and nodded to Launchpad, giving him the permission to do so.

The other pilot beamed and immediately pulled the lever for the hatch with so much force that he nearly broke it, making Della wince. But luckily it was left in place. "Huh," Launchpad wondered.

"Good job," Della simply said and got out of her seat. She had made sure that everything was securely fixed and connected – not with bubblegum or glue. "You comin'," she then asked Launchpad as she was leaving the cockpit to keep him from messing with anything.

"Yeah, okay," he said, sounding a little bit sad that really nothing in the plane got broken during the landing.

_Maybe I should install something that deliberately breaks every time we land_, Della wondered as she was following the kids, Scrooge and Donald out of the plane. _It would certainly make Launchpad happy_.

Outside the plane they were greeted by an airport employee who offered them a ride for their luggage from the plane to the terminal. Scrooge agreed, under the condition that he wouldn't have to pay extra for it, which made Della and the kids snicker. Her uncle was the richest duck in the world but he wasn't willing to tip or pay a few extra dollars for a service most other people paid for without even thinking about it.

Inside the terminal they then were approached by a seal in a business suit. "Mr. McDuck," he asked Scrooge and extended his hand. "I'm Ryan Robens."

"Ah, Mr. Robens, I think we spoke on the phone," Scrooge replied and shook the seal's flipper.

"I assume this is your family?"

Scrooge replied with a nod.

"I've arranged rooms for all of you in one of the best hotels in town. If you were to follow me," Robens told them and led the way to a black limousine waiting outside. "Do you want to go to the hotel first or straight to the harbour," he asked Scrooge as he opened the limousine's door.

"For me, Donald and Launchpad here it's straight to the harbour," Scrooge replied and then turned around to Della and the kids. "Now, wait in the hotel until we come back."

"Where are you going," Dewey asked curiously.

"To one of my oil rigs. Boring business stuff. I want to get it out of the way before we make our way to the ancient lands of the Frolutuths," Scrooge explained, sounding rather nonchalant about it but Della didn't buy it. If he was taking along Donald and Launchpad something must have been wrong or at least he must have had the suspicion that there might be trouble waiting for him. It hurt her that he trusted Donald, and Launchpad of all people, more to help him in such a situation than her. She rationalised it away by reminding her that they were going on the high sea and that Donald was a sailor after all, so he was logically better prepared to him help there than she would have been. And Launchpad was tall, relatively strong and thusly could be rather intimidating to people who didn't know him. He was also loyal and would do anything to protect Scrooge.

"I'm going to make sure the kids won't get into any trouble," Della promised her uncle.

Scrooge nodded his thanks and asked Robens to lead the way. "Of course. Oh, and I've booked the rooms on my name," he told Della as she was entering the limousine.

"Okay," she replied and closed the door behind her.

The kids were jumping around the luxurious limousine, not often getting the chance to ride in one even though Scrooge had one at home but they normally used the jeep or Donald's car to get around. A smile spread on Della's beak as she watch Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby explore every inch of the car. She just hopped that her uncle and brother were going to return soon.

* * *

"So, what is going on here," Donald demanded to know once the limousine had driven off and he, his uncle, Launchpad and Mr. Robens were walking towards the latter's car.

Mr. Robens studied Donald with the same look on his face that everybody always had who tried to decipher what Donald had just said before turning to Uncle Scrooge, asking: "You haven't told them?"

Scrooge shook his head. "Considering that this is top secret, I wanted to limit the risk of anyone but us findin' out about it," the elder duck explained.

Donald's eyes winded. He was both flattered and insulted at once. He was flattered because Uncle Scrooge trusted him to take him on such a mission, and insulted because he didn't trust him enough to tell him beforehand. Though he did understand why he hadn't told Launchpad. That man could barely keep his beak shut even if his life depended on it. "What's so top secret," Donald asked with a sigh.

Scrooge and Mr. Robens exchanged a short glance before Scrooge gave crude nod to the seal to have him explain everything as they got into the car. "About four months ago, one of our oil rigs, the Anchorduck 2, cracked through the ceiling of an underwater cave that was previously undiscovered. We of course sent down some missions to investigate the cave, but according to the official reports nothing was brought up."

"So what," Donald asked, not really getting why this was supposed to be a top secret mission.

"Because they've found something," Scrooge replied in a mysterious voice.

Donald rolled his eyes. He had the suspicion that this was just one of his uncle's hunches. True, they often were correct, but he hated to be send on a wild goose chase because of one.

"Probably, at least that's what I've heard. Plus, somebody is relocating company funds. That's how I found about it. I'm the senior accountant for the regional division of McDuck Enterprises," Mr. Robens explained. "And none of it went through me. So I asked the captain of the oil rig, a Mr. Louis Lee about it and he just told me to talk to our boss, Mr. Rheillei, who stonewalled me and told me that it was none of my business. I reminded him that as the senior accountant it was my business what was done with the money Duckburg allocated to us. He threatened to have me fired, so I went to the union, who promised to talk to management in Duckburg – and nothing further happened. Rheillei pulled back his threat but still denied to answer any of my questions and simply told me to take it up with management in Duckburg."

"And what did they say," Donald asked, already suspecting that they also denied any request for information. While also being surprised that his uncle allowed for unions in his company.

"What do you think," Mr. Robens answered. "That they couldn't tell me anything. According to them everything in Anchorduck was in order. When I forwarded the paperwork to them, proving that money was reallocated without any notes for what, they promised to start an investigation. A week later I got a phone call, telling me that the board of directors had ordered the investigation stopped and that according to them, I were to stop investigating myself or be fired. I of course tried to contact the board myself, but never got through. That was when I contacted Mr. McDuck myself."

"And a good thing you did. I want to know what is goin' on here, and why my own board is lookin' away when we're potentially losin' money."

Donald had to agree with his uncle. That was weird. The Buzzard Brothers were probably one of the few people in the world that were bigger misers than Scrooge himself was. "And what are we going to do now?"

"We're goin' to sail out there and pay a visit to that oil rig. I want to ask that captain a few questions meself and go down to that cave of course."

Donald nodded and swallowed a lump in his throat. He knew his own bad luck was bound to get them in trouble on its own, but Scrooge had a tendency to both attract and seek out trouble on a scale bigger than even Donald. He just somehow managed to get through it unscathed most of the time and more often than not turn it into profit. Donald just hoped that the trouble they were getting themselves into this time wasn't going to be too big. After the moonvasion he needed some actual downtime spent with his family – not another life threatening adventure.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Duckburg, the Buzzard Brothers were sitting in the boardroom of McDuck Enterprises and were going over business numbers when the door opened. A young sparrow, wearing a grey business suit, entered. "Ahm, you wanted to be informed when Mr. McDuck had landed in Anchordurck. Well, he and his family are now there."

"Very well, Mr. Foster," Bradford replied. "Any indication of their current movements?"

The young sparrow swallowed hard. "Ahm, yes. Ms. Duck has taken the children to a hotel, the Pacific Tundra Resort. Mr. McDuck, Mr. Duck and Mr. McQuack apparently have made their way to the harbour, probably planing to ship out to the Anchorduck 2 oil rig," he reported.

Bradford and his brothers nodded slowly, sinister grins sneaking up on their beaks. "Very well then, Mr. Foster. You can go," Bradford said and the sparrow quickly bowed his way out.

Bailey, the most silent of the three brothers, pressed a button beneath the table, putting the room into lock down mode. Once the room had been secured it was bathed in a menacing red light and their logo, the logo of F.O.W.L., appeared on the screen behind them.

Bradford got out a remote control and used it contact their lead agent, Steelbeak. "This is the High Command. Agent Steelbeak, report."

The screen behind them turned to static for a second before revealing their top man. The tall rooster wore his usual white dinner jacket with red button-down shirt and black bow tie. His height and his beak made out of steel gave him a rather intimidating appearance, one of the reasons why he had managed to climb through the ranks of F.O.W.L. at an extraordinary pace.

"Agent Steelbeak reporting for duty," the rooster replied. "What is the mission, sir?"

"You are to fly to Anchorduck and seek out the local head of operations for McDuck Enterprises, a penguin by the name of James Rheillei. He's one of our agents. You're to assume command of our operations there," Bradley explained.

Steelbeak nodded. "Of course, sir. Anything further?"

"Yes," Bradford replied. "McDuck has just arrived in Anchorduck. He's about to sail out to an oil rig. I'm sure Rheillei will have further information about this. He has people watching McDuck's family on land. You're to contact these men and take the children prisoners as bait for Scrooge, but eliminate any adult accompanying them."

Steelbeak grinned, which made him appear even more menacing than the cold stare that he had previously explained. "It will be my pleasure, sir."

"And remember, we don't tolerate failure," added Bailey in barely more than a whisper, never looking up from his interfolded hands. Their agent confirmed his understanding with another nod and the screen went back to red.

"When is the shipment of the artefacts going to take place," Bentley asked.

"In two days," Bradford answered. "Not that it matters. Our operatives will be make sure that McDuck never finds out what secrets we've uncovered down there."

The other two brothers nodded in agreement, evil smirks on their beaks. "Do you think he's going to kill or kidnap the Wandrquack girl," Bentley suddenly asked.

"Does it matter," Bradford replied nonchalantly.

"Kill," Bailey said in response. "He's smart, but not that smart. Nor will he really care that the girl is as important to Scrooge as his three nephews are. And does it really matter? If we have the three of them, McDuck is going to do whatever we want. It will be very easy to lead him into a trap that even he won't be able to escape from."

"Gentlemen, might we return to our official jobs," Bradford said, clearly intending his suggestion to be understood as an order. His two brothers agreed and Bailey pressed his secret button again, returning the room back to its usual appearance.

* * *

"Okay, who's gonna sleep with whom," Della asked the kids, clapping her hands together. They had gotten three suites with two bedrooms each. "Uncle Scrooge and Donald are going to bunk together, obviously," she decided before she got any answer.

"Oh, they'll love that," Louie replied sarcastically while playing on his phone and Dewey and Webby had to laugh in agreement.

"Yeah, well, they aren't here so we decide who gets which room," Della argued. "So, who wants to bunk with me?" All four ducklings raised their hands in excitement, causing Della to raise her eyebrows in a kind of challenge. "I doubt that there will be room for all of you."

She got out one of the three key cards they had gotten at the reception and opened the door to the middle one of the suites. Inside was a big living room area, behind it a kitchen and left and right were the bedrooms with their own bathrooms attached to them. After inspecting the suite, Huey was the first to admit that there might have been enough space for the three of them but not for Webby in one room.

"Why doesn't Webby sleep with mom," Louie suggested.

"You do realise that when none of us volunteer to share a suite with Launchpad, Uncle Scrooge will force Uncle Donald to do so?," Huey asked his brother.

"And," Louie asked back, clearly not caring about this.

Huey groaned and rolled his eyes. "Don't you think it's unfair that Uncle Scrooge would get an entire suite for himself? He isn't even paying for this stay."

Louie shrugged and sat down at the couch. "I'm certainly not going to bunk with Launchpad. Not going to lie, I like him, but the last thing I need is him potentially blowing us up when he tries to handle these kitchen appliances," the green triplet said, pointing at the kitchen behind them.

Della winced. Her youngest son had a good point. Launchpad was not really accident proof. And putting him together with Donald would only increase the chance that something might go horribly wrong.

As if he had read his mother's mind, Huey pointed exactly this fact out to his brother only a second after it had hushed through Della's mind. But once more, Louie just shrugged and then grabbed the TV's remote control. "If you're so concerned about it, why don't you bunk with him? Or better, why don't we kids get this suite and mom and Launchpad share one? Or Launchpad gets to bunk with Uncle Scrooge?"

"Yeah," was the answer to that suggestion from Dewey and Webby, both punching in the air, clearly finding the notion of having an entire suite to themselves quite entertaining. Della not so much.

The only adult duck in the room crossed her arms and knitted her brows. "Because you're all still children, regardless of what you all already have experienced. I'm the one who has the supervision and I'm saying that you all have to share a suite with at least one adult."

All four kids, even Huey, groaned in frustration. "Fine," Louie then said, "but why can't Launchpad bunk with Uncle Scrooge and we bunk with Uncle Donald and you and Webby get an all girls' suite?"

Della opened her beak to respond but she couldn't find a fault in Louie's idea. She had wanted to spent some more quality time with her boys but given that they had to find a way to split them up between the suites this might have been the best idea. The four ducklings were watching her, eagerly awaiting if she was going to agree to this or not. Della let out a small groan before saying "fine", which was followed by a cry of ecstasy by Webby, a small yelp of victory from Louie, a groan of disappointment from Dewey and a simple shrug from Huey.

"So I guess we now have to decide who gets which suite. I call dibs on this one," Louie said lazily, flipping through the channels, trying to find a programme that would hold his interest for longer than three seconds.

"Oh no Mister. This is mine and Webby's suite. You boys will take whatever suite Donald chooses," Della countered in her best authoritative voice to make it obvious that she was putting down her foot and was not going to argue about it.

"But where are we going to put our stuff until he and Uncle Scrooge come back," Dewey whined.

"You can keep it in here until then," Della pointed out and then turned to Webby, smiling down at the young duckling. "Now Webby, which of the rooms do you want?"

Webby's face lit up at the opportunity to choose herself. She ran into the right room and then into the left one. "I can't decide," she admitted after doing this three more times.

Like with Dewey, Webby's enthusiasm and overflowing energy just made Della smile fondly instead of groaning in frustration, which probably was the reaction most people would have had to it. But Della couldn't help herself, she found Webby's enthusiasm infectious and it reminded her a lot of herself when she was eleven years old.

"Why don't we flip a coin," Dewey suggested and got out a quarter. "Head's right, tail's left."

"Okay," Webby said and Dewey threw the coin. It showed tail, so Webby brought her suitcase into the left room while Della carried hers into the right one. "So and what now," Webby asked.

"Why don't we sit around and watch television," Louie answered, having caught a rerun of Ottoman Empire.

Della groaned. As much as she loved her son, she couldn't understand why he loved that show so much or from whom he had gotten that lazy streak. It definitely didn't came form the Duck and McDuck side of the family and even the boys' father, the duck who shall not be named in her mind, hadn't been that lazy. Sure, he had been a sleaze bag who had only dated Della because she was the niece of the richest duck in the world – which was why she had never even told him that she had laid eggs after they had broken up – but lazy was one thing he was not.

"Why don't we go out and explore the city until the others come back? We won't have much time for that once they do, I mean we're going to go out into the cold wilderness of the North American Arctic Tundra probably as soon as Uncle Scrooge has made us pack up our stuff again," Huey pointed out.

Louie groaned. "Why would we want to explore a boring snow city anyway?"

"Boring snow city," Huey countered aghast. "Anchorduck is the biggest city of the state, the second biggest north of the northern polar circle, and has a rich history – "

Louie waved his red-clad brother off with a simple flick of the wrist. "Yeah, yeah. And so what?"

"So what?!," Huey shrieked, turning to his mother, pleading for help with his eyes.

Della sighed. This was not how she had hoped to spend the day. "Louie, your brother is right. This city has some interesting sights and I can't just leave you alone in the hotel all day."

"Why not? Wouldn't be the first time we'd be home alone," Louie argued.

"When are we ever home alone," Webby chimed in. "Even if Uncle Scrooge, Donald, Launchpad and Della aren't at the manor, granny and Duckworth are still there."

"And before we moved there, whenever he had to go for more than ten minutes and couldn't take us with him, Uncle Donald always asked someone to babysit us," Dewey pointed out.

The green-clad triplet groaned in frustration. "Fine, I'm coming with. But don't expect me to enjoy myself." And with that they were off.

* * *

"Welcome on board, Mr. McDuck," the walrus commander of the oil rig said. Louis Lee was tall and muscular, his tusks adding to his already rather intimidating appearance. This was underlined by him wearing an outfit that was reminiscent of the uniform of a navy officer.

"Captain Lee, I presume," Scrooge replied, shaking the man's flipper.

"Yes. If I had known that you were coming, I'd have prepared quarters for you."

Scrooge waved this concern off. "My companions and I won't need any quarters. What we need are answers."

"Answers," Lee asked, sounding nervous.

"Yes, answers. Mainly why there were false reports about what is goin' on with that underwater cave you've found."

Lee swallowed a lump in his throat and guided Scrooge and the other three men into the oil rig. "I didn't know that you didn't know, sir," he stammered.

"What is that supposed to mean," Scrooge demanded to know.

"Well, you see, I got orders to keep everything we find down there secret from Mr. Rheillei and he told me that order came from the very top, so I of course assumed –"

"You assumed that the order came from me," Scrooge realised and relaxed a bit. "Well, it didn't. Did you keep a log of what you found down there?"

Lee shook his head. "I'm sorry. Like I said, Mr. Rheillei told me to keep everything secret. The records we have all say the same thing – that we haven't found anything. Well, all but the first one," he said.

"I'd very much like to see that one," Scrooge demanded and Lee led the inspection party through the various hallways and narrow corridors and walks until they finally found themselves in a big room with lots of control panels.

A young polar fox was working there, clad in waterproof winter clothing. "Ah, captain, are those our gues – Mr. McDuck, what an honour," he said and nearly fell over himself to shake the hand of their company's owner.

"And you would be?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Kinapak Tikaani," the fox answered and Scrooge frowned for a second before returning to his more friendly previous demeanour. The name of the young man literally translated to "masked wolf" but there wasn't really anything someone could do about the name he or she had, Scrooge reasoned and decided not to hold it against the young lad.

"Would you please show Mr. McDuck the logs of the submarine missions," Lee asked in a tone that made it understood that it was an order.

"Of course," Tikaani answered and went to fetch the files. "Here they are."

Scrooge nodded. "Would ye have a place for me to study those?"

Lee nodded. "Of course, sir," he said and led Scrooge and company to his own quarters. "When you need anything, use the intercom," he told them and left.

"That was easier than I expected," Scrooge said once the captain was gone.

"Do you believe him," Robens asked.

"Surprisingly enough, I do. He doesn't appear to be lyin'," Scrooge noted and opened the first of the files. "While I read those, you go and try to find the workers who went down there."

Robens, Donald and Launchpad nodded and left Scrooge to study the logs. Lee had been right, only the first one was of any actual interest. Despite it containing a lot of information about the nature of the ocean's floor, that wasn't really of much interest to Scrooge, the information about the minerals within the cave and its expanse were of big interest to him. And so was the mention of rocks that might have been artefacts and the description of signing on the walls that looked like sea creatures. Could this have been the remains of an old city that got somehow emerged into the ocean? An ancient, long forgotten island? If that was the case, why did the board try to keep it from Scrooge?

Some time later the other three men returned, several of the oil rig workers in tow. "These are the workers who went down to the first three missions," Robens reported.

"Only the first three? According to these there have been at least ten," Scrooge asked surprised.

"There were twelve, sir," one of the workers, a duck, answered. "But after the first three, they had send in people from land to take it over."

"Really," Scrooge asked slowly, finding this mystery more and more intriguing and troublesome at the same time. "Can you tell me what exactly you found down there?"

The workers shrugged. "It all looked like old stones to me," a polar bear worker answered.

"One the second trip we brought up a stone tablet with some ancient language on it, but none of us could read it," another duck worker replied.

"We had it stored here but the guys from the mainland took it all with them," the first duck explained.

"And they took all the pictures we had made as well," another duck added.

Scrooge nodded slowly, clearly contemplating what this all meant. "Thank you, misters. You can return to your work," he told them and then used to the intercom to have Lee come down to his quarters.

"Everything in order," Lee asked as soon as he got there.

"How can everything be in order with somethin' like this happenin' in me company without me knowin' about it?," Scrooge asked angrily, making Lee wince. "Ah, don't worry, there will be consequences but not fer yo," he told the walrus who visibly relaxed after that.

"Is there anything further I can do for you?"

Scrooge nodded. "Yes. I'd like to go down to that cave meself."

"I'll give order to prepare a submarine," Lee said immediately. "How many men would you like to accompany you?"

"None. I've brought a very capable navigator with me. That's all I'll need," Scrooge replied and Lee left at once..

"Are you really going to go down there," Robens asked concerned.

"Aye, and you'll be comin' with us," Scrooge told him.

"I will," Robens asked, swallowing nervously.

"Aye. I need to know what's down there and why me board wanted to keep it from me. And once we're back on land, I think I'll have a lengthy talk with Mr. Rheillei."

"Good idea, Mr. McD," Launchpad said, apparently because he didn't know what else to say and he had felt the need to say something.

Scrooge sighed and closed his eyes in resignation. Two years ago, he would have started to complain about it, but by now he had simply accepted Launchpad and his often childish behaviour as part of the course.

"What about the board, sir," Robens then asked.

"Oh, they'll get an earful once I know what's goin' on here and have returned to Duckburg," Scrooge proclaimed angrily, slamming his fist on the small table he was sitting at. "Now, crew, get ready for a deep sea mission."

Donald and Launchpad both saluted, with Donald's salute being more sarcastic while Launchpad's was completely earnest. Robens just nodded nervously and excused himself to the toilets.

Some time later the four of them stood ready to enter a small yellow submarine, hanging on a crane, holding it on the same level as the oil rig platform. Donald was the first to enter, Launchpad came after him. Robens was still nervous about going onto an underwater mission, muttering something about not having signed up for this, but in the end Scrooge got him to get into the ship – by pushing him in. He was about to follow himself when a duck sprinted down from the control tower, shouting for Lee and Scrooge.

"What is it, Armstrong," Lee asked.

"Our sonar just picked something up," he gasped.

"What," both Scrooge and Lee asked in unison.

"We've picked something up," Armstrong repeated. "We don't know what it is, but it's certainly not a whale or any animal. I assume it might be another submarine."

Scrooge and Lee looked at each other in surprise. "Did you notice any other submarines coming this way in the last few months?"

Lee shook his head. "Not once."

"Mmh," Scrooge replied, rubbing his chin. "Well, then we better find out who this is," he said and got into the submarine.

"The oxygen should last for at least three hours. If you aren't back by then, we'll send a rescue team down," Lee promised as Scrooge closed the hatch behind him.

"What was that," Robens asked and Scrooge explained about the other submarine.

"Who could that be," Donald wondered out loud.

"Just one of the secrets we're going to uncover down there," Scrooge announced before grabbing the radio, giving through the order to let the sub down into the water. "Donald, Launchpad, take us down!"

The submarine submerged beneath the surface of the ocean and continued its dive of over 700, nearly 800 miles. "Can you see anything," Scrooge asked the others.

"It's very dark outside," Robens replied, sounding a bit frightened.

"Then you're lucky that the cave is only 798 miles beneath the surface and not over 2,000. Then you really wouldn't be able to see anythin'," Scrooge replied, getting annoyed by Robens' cowardliness.

"We've got to be close to the entrance," Donald said, studying a map of the ocean floor. When he found what he was looking for he took the controls from Launchpad. "We've got to go this way," he explained and only a few minutes later they were at the entrance of the cave.

"Very good, Donald," Scrooge said, feeling the need to compliment his nephew. Something he did once in awhile to not make him feel too underappreciated, especially after what happened with the cruise and Scrooge giving away that they had thought that Donald actually managed to catch it.

They dove into the cave and Launchpad turned their lights to the maximum setting. What they saw made Scrooge fume with rage. The other submarine was parking in the centre of the cave. But what made Scrooge's blood boil was not the fact that there was another submarine in of itself but what was written on the side of it.

"Waddle," all four passengers of the McDuck Enterprises submarine read out loud in unison.

"Mark Beaks is here," Scrooge added darkly, grinding his teeth as he did so.

* * *

The Duck family walked around Anchorduck with Huey in front. The oldest of the triplets was really excited to show the others the important landmarks and parks of the city. Louie was hanging back, kicking the odd stone here and there. He had tried to argue to go shopping or to the movies instead of the parks given that they were going to see enough nature once they would begin their hiking trip up north. But to no avail.

Suddenly Della was walking directly besides her youngest son as the five of them entered the city's botanical garden. "I know that this isn't really your thing," she said and put a hand on Louie's shoulder. "And we can go to movies later, okay? That way we all get to do something we want to do. You get to go to the movies, Huey gets to hike in the parks, and well, Dewey and Webby simply get to run around, making up stories about something or someone."

Louie nodded, feeling a smile sneaking upon his beak. "I know. This is just something that bores me."

Della smiled and knelt down, stopping her and her son from following the other three. "I understand that, believe me I do. By now it is becoming rather stale listening to Huey repeat every single fact he ever read about any historical landmark in the city by heart, but we're a family and sometimes we have to just put up with these quirks our family members have."

Louie smiled weakly at his mother. "Where did you learn that bit of wisdom," he wondered out loud. He knew that she used to be just as reckless as he sometimes was, or to use an even better point of comparison: Dewey.

Della laughed lightly. "Since I started to learn what it means being a mom," she admitted. "And now come on, we should catch up with the others."

Once they had done so, Louie immediately noticed Webby being on the edge, constantly looking over her shoulders, narrowing her eyes and suspiciously looking at the bushes as if some threat would jump out of them at any second. "Webby, is something wrong?," he asked concerned.

"I don't know. I've got this funny feeling that somebody's following us."

This caused the other four ducks to look around as well but they couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary. There were several other tourists about, making pictures of plants and themselves, couples walking around holding hands, parents pushing baby carriages in front of them, children running around with their parents trying to catch them and some other people just strolling through the park, enjoying the scenery.

"Are you sure," Dewey asked, sounding both sceptical and scared at the same time.

Webby shrugged. "I don't know if anyone is following us, it just feels like someone is."

"It's probably nothing," Della said, shrugging her shoulders but her facial expressions revealed that she wasn't entirely convinced of this stance causing the four ducklings to blink up at her with blank expressions. She sighed. "Okay, maybe someone is, maybe someone isn't. Let's just be on guard, okay?"

The children nodded and the group continued their way through the garden. And while they did keep checking their surroundings more carefully now, they never spotted anything out of the ordinary.

The problem was that Webby's senses hadn't been wrong. They were being followed by two ducks in normal parkas that looked as ordinary as someone could look. And they had been following them since they had left the hotel. "When is this finally over," complained one of them, his name was Sam, to the other, who's name was Harley.

"When the new boss is getting here," Harley replied annoyed.

"And when is that going to happen?"

"Right now," answered a deep and dangerous voice from behind them.

The two ducks quickly turned around and came face to face with the big rooster that was Steelbeak. And if his expensive dinner jacket wouldn't already make him stand out among the crowd in the botanical gardens the steelbeak giving him his name definitely did do the trick.

"Hello, sir," Sam said, nervously swallowing down a lump that had formed in his throat all of the sudden.

"Sam, I presume," Steelbeak replied in a quite menacing tone. "You've been keeping an eye on our targets?"

"We have, sir," Harley answered just as nervously as Sam had done.

"Very well. Did they notice you?"

"We don't know, sir," Harley replied.

"What does that mean?"

"You see, the girl had suddenly started to look around as if she had the feeling that we were there, but neither she or the others ever gave any indication that they've actually spotted us," Harley explained.

Steelbeak nodded slowly. "I was afraid of something like this. Our orders are to take the children prisoners to use them as bait for Scrooge. The woman is to be eliminated. But if the girl proves to be too much trouble, we'll have to do the same thing to her as well. Is that understood?"

"Completely, sir," the two ducks answered.

"Good. Then let's get to work."


	2. Chapter 2

**It sadly took me awhile to finish this chapter. I think the next one will be up faster.**

* * *

Scrooge angrily tapped his fingers on his cane. He had been trying to contact the other submarine for several minutes by now via the radio but there was no answer. A circumstance that was beginning to really get under his feathers. "Why won't they answer," he asked himself out loud.

"Maybe they can't hear us. It's not that easy hearing under water, you know," Launchpad offered, causing Scrooge to facepalm in frustration.

Suddenly, Donald's phone rang. "How come I've got reception down here," he wondered as he got it out of his pockets. "It's a video call." He answered the call and to his surprise, Mark Beaks appeared on his screen.

"Oh, hi there. You must be Donald, Scrooge's nephew. I see you're in that submarine. Please give me your uncle, I've got no interest talking to someone as unimportant as you," Beaks rattled arrogantly.

Donald was starting to fume with anger and about to throw the phone away but Scrooge was faster. He had heard what Beaks had been saying and grabbed the phone before Donald could do anything stupid. "Why in the name of all the highlanders – "

"Yeah, yeah, you want to know why I didn't answer on the radio right? Well, you see, I wanted to gloat and see your face which I hardly could have done if we had just been talking on the radio," Beaks explained.

"Then why – "

"You apparently have no phone on you right now."

"It's turned off," Scrooge interjected.

"Why would you do that," Beaks asked confused.

"Why would I keep it on when I don't have any use for it," Scrooge asked back.

"To make pictures of course," Beaks replied as if this was the most obvious thing in the world, causing Scrooge to groan and roll his eyes. "Anyway, old man, I'm surprised it took you four months to come here."

"How did ye know – "

"Oh, I've got eyes and ears wherever I want to have them, Scrooge. But to be fair, I've been looking for this cave for quite some time."

"Why?"

"Oh, you don't know? This is – oh my god, you really don't know!," Beaks shouted enthusiastically.

"Know what," Scrooge asked, getting really annoyed with Beaks and the situation in general.

"What this cave is of course," Beaks answered.

"Oh, and what is it?"

Beaks laughed uncontrollably. "Just the place that holds the key to the greatest secret in the universe!"

Scrooge raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked at his three companions, all of them looking at him with a similar, flabbergasted and confused look on their faces. "And what would ye know about it," Scrooge asked.

"Oh, not much. I've just started my research into it a few months ago after having a kind of epiphany. You know, when something is just becomes clear to you, ever had one of those?"

Scrooge didn't bother with a verbal response and simply gritted his teeth, screwing up his face into an angry masque to make Beaks continue talking.

"Of course you have," the grey parrot said. "Someone as old as you must have had tons of those, right? Anyway – you really don't know what is down here?"

"Why don't ye tell me?"

Beaks laughed again. "Oh, I'm so not gonna do that," he proclaimed. "Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised that the great Scrooge McDuck doesn't know what I am talking about since somebody in your company actually kept this from you. Now, who was it?"

"I don't have to tell ye."

"You don't even know that," Beaks practically shouted. "Man, you're really losing control, aren't you? I shouldn't be surprised, I mean, you're old, really old."

Scrooge once more gritted his teeth and had to restrain himself to not throw the phone away or insult Beaks. If he played it clever the dumb parrot would feel secure in his smug superiority and tell Scrooge what he was doing here. Hence, no insults as much as it pained Scrooge to not curse out loud at that very moment.

"Anyway, not that any of that matters. Once I've got my hands on – "

That was it, Scrooge knew it. The idiot would reveal his entire plan simply because he was so overly confident. But before Beaks could continue he was interrupted on the other hand.

"Sir, it's not here," somebody said behind Beaks.

"What do you mean it's not here," Beaks shrieked.

"It's not here, sir. We've scanned the entire cave, none of the cameras found anything resembling the tablet," the voice explained.

"Damn it," Beaks cursed and returned his attention to Scrooge. "You wouldn't know if your people might have brought some things up from down here, would you," he asked in a fake apologetic voice.

Scrooge scoffed at him. "And ye think I'd help ye after ye insulted me to me face?" Before Beaks could reply to that, Scrooge ended the call and gave the phone back to Donald. "Let's get back to the service. We must find out where Rheillei stored these artefacts before Beaks does."

* * *

The Ducks were walking through the botanical garden, all the while being followed by Steelbeak and his two henchducks. "I think now it is fairly accurate to say that we're being followed," Louie noted after awhile.

"You mean the guy with the steel beak," Webby asked and Della looked behind them, seeing Steelbeak apparently studying a sign of some kind of flower. "Are you certain," she asked her son.

"Of course," Louie replied. "Who would run around in a white dinner jacket in this kind of weather?"

Della frowned. "Maybe, but wouldn't it make more sense to not appear this suspicious," she wondered.

"Please, he might be working for Glomgold or Mark Beaks. These guys have never heard of being inconspicuous," Louie argued.

"As much as I hate to say it – but Louie is probably right about this one," Huey chimed in.

"Thank you, Huey," Louie said to his brother before turning back to their mother. "So, what are we going to do now, mom?"

Before Della could answer, Dewey jumped in, "We confront him and take him on," acting out a fight as he said this.

Louie and Huey both rolled their eyes. "If Uncle Scrooge or Beakley were here, okay, but the four of us," Louie questioned.

"Hey, we got mom and Webby, and of course me," Dewey argued a bit insulted.

Louie just rolled his eyes, especially at his brother's arrogance that he would be of any help in a fight despite the opposite being more of the truth. "Neither one of them is a trained and experienced spy or the literally greatest adventurer of all time. No offence guys."

"No problem, Louie," Webby assured him as she grabbed Dewey's arm, holding him back from going at his brother for ignoring him or – way worse – trying to take on their pursuer by himself to prove Louie wrong.

"What do you think we should do," Della asked her youngest son.

Louie rubbed his chin, thinking about how to proceed when Huey spoke up, "I think the best thing we can do right now is stay in a public area with other people nearby. If he's trying to do anything he's less likely to do it while there several witnesses around."

"Good idea," Louie agreed. "We should try to stay together and maybe loose him by going to the mall or something, a place where really a lot of people are," he added.

"You're just saying that to go shopping, do you," Huey questioned sceptically.

Louie, faking being offended, put a hand on his heart and gasped. "Huey, how could you say something like that."

Huey rolled his eyes but before he could reply Della stepped in. "Let's not fight. Louie is actually right. We should try to get somewhere with a lot more people, just to be on the safe side."

The four ducklings nodded and the five of them tried to keep close to a group of Asian tourists on their way out of the gardens.

"There's the exit," Webby pointed out.

"Should we call a cab," Dewey asked.

Della shook her head. "No. We'll take the bus into the city."

"Yeah," Webby celebrated, much Della's surprise.

"She likes taking the bus," Huey explained.

"Yeah, one of the few people in the world," Louie added as he took out his phone to check which routes they would have to take to get to the shopping centres downtown. "We can take the thirteen in seven minutes if we're fast enough and ride three stations before switching to line nine and then we'd have to later switch to the five, taking us nearly directly to the Khanmart, McDuck Mall and the Alaskan Rockerduck Centre."

"Good plan," Della complimented her son.

"But wouldn't that be too obvious," Huey asked.

Louie shook his head. "Too obvious would be to take the seven in five minutes to drive directly to the banking district and take the three to the shopping part of downtown."

"I see you thought this through," Della commented.

"Of course I have," Louie replied proudly. "I've told you time and again, that's what I do, I see all the angles."

Huey, Dewey and Webby exchanged questioning looks while Della smiled proudly at her son, which Louie chose to focus on instead.

* * *

"This is weird," Sam commented flabbergasted as the Ducks entered the bus line thirteen.

"Why," asked Steelbeak.

"This bus is basically taking them to nowhere," Sam explained.

Steelbeak smirked. "Is that so," he asked as he got out his phone and did exactly what Louie did just a few minutes early: check out all possible connections to the downtown shopping centres.

"Yeah," both Sam and Harley replied in unison.

"They're trying to trick us," Steelbeak replied and showed them a map with the bus routes the Ducks were going to take to get to downtown.

"So what are we going to do? Follow them," asked Sam.

"Of course not," Harley replied instead of Steelbeak. "We're going to cut them off, aren't we boss?"

"Very good, Harley," the rooster commented with another evil grin on his face. "And where would you suggest we should do that?"

"By driving directly to the shopping malls."

Steelbeak shook his head. "No. The last thing we want is them getting back to where so many people are. Remember our mission. We're going to cut them off before they get there," he explained as he dialled a number on his phone. "Yes, Mr. Rheillei. How quickly could to manufacture a car accident?"

* * *

Several minutes later the bus with the Ducks on it was driving through a very suburban like neighbourhood of Anchorduck when suddenly the bus driver put on the brakes, causing the thirteen passengers to be jolted forward.

"What is going on," an elderly woman asked panic-fuelled.

"Two cars have crashed together," the bus driver answered.

The Ducks exchanged worried looks. "What now," Webby asked Louie since he had been the one who had come up with the plan to use this route.

The green-clad duckling shrugged. "We wait," he answered insecurely. "I mean, what else can we do?"

"Louie's right," Della decided. "As long as we stay here, with witnesses, nothing is going to happen."

Webby turned to the windows, peaking outside to get a better look on what was going on, and jumped back in horror. "He's here with two other ducks," she shouted and pointed outside.

The other four rushed to the window and pressed their beaks against it. "Are we sure they won't try anything," Dewey asked concerned.

Della opened her beak to answer but no sound came out. She looked at Louie, then at Webby and then at her other two sons. "We should just remain calm," she finally said.

Just after she said that, Steelbeak entered the bus, a smug smirk on his metallic beak. "Ladies and gentlemen, I would recommend all of you to get off now. All but this lovely family over there," he said in a calm but demanding tone while pointing at the Ducks, including Webby.

"Why," a lady dog asked.

"Because I asked you nicely," Steelbeak replied, pulling out a gun from under his jacket.

The other passengers immediately jumped up and ran out of the bus, some already dialling the number of the police. "You five, move," Steelbeak ordered the Ducks, pointing his gun at them.

They all swallowed hard and did as they were told, with Della ushering the kids towards the exit, trying to manoeuvre herself between the gunman and the children.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Steelbeak said with a grin. "You're the most expandable."

This statement clearly shocked Della and the children to the core. If an enemy of Uncle Scrooge had sent the men, they had clearly, for whatever reason, had decided that the children must be more important to their uncle than Della was.

They slowly exited the bus with Steelbeak behind them and his two henchducks waiting for them outside. "Get the kids into the car," the rooster ordered them and they all heard a click, signalling that he was about to pull the trigger.

Webby immediately knew that this wasn't just some way to prove that he was willing to kill them if they didn't do what he was telling them to. He was going to kill Della – there simply wouldn't have been enough space for all five of them in the car. There was barely enough for the four ducklings.

"No," all four of them yelled out and Della reacted even fasted. She jumped aside, covering the four young ones before rolling back onto her feet, the shot missing her barely. As she got back up she immediately jumped forward, aiming for the rooster's gun with her metal leg, but he must have seen this one coming since he slightly adjusted his stance and managed to knock Della away before she hit him.

"Boss, watch out!," one of the henchducks called out. Before Steelbeak could react, the lady dog from the bus hit him with her handbag on the back of his head.

The ducklings ran over to Della, who was slowly getting back on her feet. "We've got to get out of here," she said. The four of them nodded and as Steelbeak was yelling at the lady dog, waving his gun into her face and ordering her to back off, they used the short window of opportunity to flee into the garden of the next best house. They heard a loud bang and shocked gasps but didn't turn around to look, they just hoped that it didn't mean what it probably meant. Instead they ran through the garden, jumping over the fence into the next one, hearing angry shouts from the rooster behind them as they continued to run.

"Where are we running to," Huey asked frightened.

"To the forest," Della answered and the five ducks took a sharp turn left, now heading for a hedge, which was harder to pass than the fences but once they had done so they were already in the forest. Louie stopped running to catch his breath but neither Webby nor Della would have any of that. "Come on," Della told her son and they grabbed him by his arms, pulling along as they continued to run deeper and deeper into the forest, always hearing the angry shouts of their pursuers behind them.

After at least half an hour of just running, jumping over branches and changing directions, Louie fell onto his knees, breathing hard. "I can't anymore," he said completely out of breath.

Della and Webby looked around. They could hear two people shouting but couldn't see anyone. "They're still close," Della observed.

"We should find a place to hide," Webby pointed out.

"But where," Della asked and they all started to look around for a place to hide from the criminals.

Webby caught Dewey's eyes and it was as if the two of them once again could read each other's minds. They smiled and both looked upwards to a tall tree close by. Dewey opened his beak to shout the solution out, but Webby jumped forward, grabbing it and forcing Dewey to keep his mouth shut. "Up there," she said, pointing upwards before giving an apologetic look to Dewey. "Sorry, but the last thing we need right now is you shouting enthusiastically," she explained.

Dewey nodded and was relieved when she let go of his beak again.

Della studied the tree and took another look around. "I don't see them. Let's climb," she said.

The five of them had managed climb high enough to hide behind the leaves just in time when Steelbeak and one of his henchducks – Sam – appeared on the scene. "How much longer are we going to do this," Sam panted.

"Until we find them," Steelbeak replied angrily.

"But that could take hours!"

The rooster grabbed the duck at his collar and hoisted him into the air. "And whose fault is that? You and Harley should've managed to keep an eye on them when that dog attacked me," he told his underling angrily.

"I'm just saying that we could ask for help," Sam managed to chock out.

Steelbeak narrowed his eyes before loosening his grip, letting Sam fall onto the ground. "Good idea," he said and got out his phone. "I need a helicopter to search the eastern forest. – No this is not a request, you damned penguin, this is an order!," he bellowed before ending the call. He then turned to Sam and told him to "call Harley and tell him to pick us up" before they started their way back to civilisation.

"Maybe I can call the police," Louie said after they were gone and got out his phone. Webby grabbed his beak when he was about to shriek out of shock of having no reception. "Sorry," Louie muttered after she let go of him again. "How come that he had reception and I don't?"

Huey frowned and got out his phone. "Weird. I mean, we're on an higher elevation than he is, we should be the ones with better reception," he pointed out.

"That's what I meant," Louie countered, rolling his eyes.

"Boys, don't fight now," Della interjected before Huey could reply to his brother.

"Maybe he has a spy phone," Dewey guessed.

"A spy phone," Louie asked, frowning.

Huey rubbed his chin before nodding in agreement. "Could be. I mean there are military phones that can get reception where no normal cell phone can't," he pointed out.

"So he's military," Louie questioned, clearly not buying it.

"No, but he's probably working for somebody with a lot of resources who might have such phones," Huey explained.

"Gyro has developed this kind of phone," Della chimed in.

"So if these guys are working for Glomgold or somebody else with a lot of resources they probably have one of those," Huey reasoned.

"We should get out of here," Webby argued nearly panicking.

"Why? They won't be able to see us in here," Louie replied confused.

"If they have a satellite phone they'll probably have infrared cameras that will detect our body heat through the leaves and make us visible," Webby explained.

Louie cursed which made his mother give him an angry glare. "I didn't think of that," he then said.

"Does anybody remember what way we came," Dewey asked concerned.

They all looked around and came up empty. Webby grabbed behind her and then cursed. "I left my backpack in the bus."

"Why is that important," Louie inquired.

"Because I've got my compass in is," Webby explained annoyed. "With that we could've walked west and we'd have gotten back to the city after some time."

"Good thinking," Dewey praised.

"Only that it won't help us," Louie added for which he got angry glares directed at him from the other four. "What? I'm just pointing out a fact," he whined.

Della sighed. "We better get down here and go in the general direction the other two have gone," she decided and they started their descent back to ground level.

* * *

"You know that they're following us, right," asked Mr. Robens as he manoeuvred his car through the streets of Anchorduck with the destination of the McDuck Enterprises offices.

"I know. They were bound to," Scrooge replied lazily. "I don't believe that it will be much of a problem."

"But why," Robens asked confused.

"Because we don't drive to where the artefacts are, aren't we," Scrooge asked back.

Robens shrugged. "Do we know that they won't hide them at the offices?"

Scrooge laughed at that. "They would be rather stupid to hide somethin' like that in an office buildin' where people like ye are runnin' around and could find them," he explained.

"Let's hope you're right," Donald grumbled as he and Launchpad looked through the rear window, keeping an eye on their pursuers.

Scrooge shot them an angry glare over his shoulder before directing Robens to speed it up. The seal complied and only a few minutes later they pulled into the parking lot of the local McDuck Enterprises offices.

"Donald, Launchpad, ye two stay here and keep an eye on Beaks while Mr. Robens and I will talk to Mr. Rheillei," Scrooge ordered. The two drakes gave their comical salutes once more as Scrooge and Robens disappeared into the seven stories tall building.

The office of Rheillei was of course located on the seventh floor with a pretty neat view onto some taller buildings close by in the city centre and even the harbour. His secretary tried to stop them from entering unannounced but Scrooge wouldn't have any of it.

"Do ye know who I am," he asked her as he walked straight through her antechamber to the double doors of Rheillei's office and pushed them open.

Rheillei, a king penguin, was on the phone, nodding along to whoever he was speaking to and held up a wing to show that he was busy, not paying any attention to Scrooge himself.

This enraged the trillionaire. Who did this penguin think he was, he asked himself and strutted over to the other bird's desk and ended the call in one swift motion by slamming his cane onto the receiver.

"Who do you – ," Rheillei began but as soon as he realised who was standing in front of him he stopped and winced. "Mr. McDuck," he stammered.

"Oh stop it. Ye probably already knew I was comin' here," Scrooge replied and sat down without showing the pleasantry of waiting for Rheillei to offer him a chair. "Or are ye tellin' me that ye don't have anyone on that oil rig bein' yer eyes and ears?"

Rheillei opened his beak a couple of times but no answer came out until he finally managed to squeak out a weak, "What can I do for you?"

Scrooge narrowed his eyes. "Oh, quite a few things actually. The first one would be to tell me where the artefacts that ye discovered are bein' stored."

Rheillei nodded quickly, got out a piece of paper and wrote something down on it. "Here, sir," he said and handed the paper to Scrooge, his hands shaking with fear.

Scrooge looked at the note and handed it to Robens who stood behind him. "You know where this is?"

The seal nodded. "It's a warehouse in the harbour district," he explained and pocketed the paper.

"Now to the second thing ye can do for me," Scrooge said to Rheillei. "Who gave you the order to keep all of this secret and reallocate company funds to do so?"

Rheillei sweated and cowered in his chair. He was clearly contemplating what answer he should give. Scrooge was growling at him and about to jump over the desk to seize him at the collar of his business suit and shake it out of him when Rheillei finally broke. "The board, sir," he stammered.

"Did they give ye any reason?" Rheillei's eyes started to dart to a filing cabinet standing at the wall and Scrooge noticed. "What are ye hidin' in there, mmh?"

"Nothing."

"I don't believe ye," Scrooge replied and walked over to it. Just as he reached out with his hands to touch it, Robens shouted "Mr. McDuck" in panic.

Scrooge turned around and saw Rheillei getting something out of a drawer. He immediately recognised that he had some sort of pill in his hands. "What do ye think ye're doin'?"

Rheillei didn't answer, he just swallowed the pill in one swift motion. "Tell my wife, I'm sorry," he said.

"Why," Scrooge asked, frowning before realisation dawned on him. "Call an ambulance," he ordered both Robens and Rheillei's secretary as he leaped over to Rheillei and grabbed him at the collar. "Ye're not dyin' on me here," he said and tried to make Rheillei spit out the pill but it was too late. Foam as starting to form in his beak and his eyes rolled backwards. Scrooge sighed and took a sniff of the foam.

"What the – ," Robens asked.

"Cyanide," Scrooge replied darkly. "For whatever reason, he was more afraid of what me board was goin' to do to him than of me if he told the truth."

"I doubt we'll need an ambulance then," the secretary asked insecurely.

"Better call the police," Scrooge told her before asking Robens to hand him the address. The seal did so, clearly under shock from what had just happened, and Scrooge copied the note before handing back the original. "And now yer car keys, please."

"My car keys?"

"Yes. Ye stay here and wait for the police. If they want to know where I am, give them the address. I'll go to this warehouse and see what kind of artefacts they've hidden there," Scrooge explained.

Robens nodded absent-mindedly and gave his boss the car keys. Scrooge thanked him and left, but not without telling Robens to not touch anything nor let Rheillei's secretary do so either.

"Where's Mr. Robens," Donald asked when Scrooge emerged from the building on his own.

"Up in Rheillei's office, waiting for the police," Scrooge answered and explained what had occurred just minutes prior before handing the address to Launchpad. "I want to see what's in there," he declared once more.

"But what about Beaks," Donald asked as they got back into the car.

Scrooge waved his nephew's concerns off. "We can handle that parrot. I'm much more concerned what's so interesting about this cave that he wants to see it himself or that me board tried to keep it secret this desperately or why Mr. Rheillei committed suicide over that question."

* * *

The sun was starting to set in the distance and panic started to grab the group wandering through the woods. "You know that there are wild wolves out here, right," Louie asked the others anxiously.

"I think the guys that try to kidnap us are a bit of a bigger concern right now," Huey retorted. "But the sunset is actually a pretty good thing, you know?"

"How," Dewey asked, feeling just as anxious as Louie did. For all of his bravado he was the most sensitive of the triplets after all.

"Because this means that we're not heading east like we should but north," Huey answered a bit annoyed.

"How do you know," Dewey asked, staring up in the sky and trying to figure out how to read it like a map simply by the way the sun moved.

Huey facepalmed as a reaction to his brother's question. "Dewey, even you should know by now that the sun sets in the east and rises in the west!"

"Oh yeah, and it's never in the north, sorry, forgot," Dewey said, feeling dumb for asking and forgetting the little bit of knowledge he had acquired during his few weeks with the Junior Woodchucks before dropping out again. "So, shouldn't we change direction then?"

"Good idea," Della agreed and started to lead the children in the direction of the setting sun. They marched for several minutes when they suddenly heard the loud noises of a helicopter approaching.

"Damn," cursed Louie under his breath. "What now?"

Della stood there, open-beaked, not answering her son's question, mainly because she had no idea what to do either. It was Webby who had an idea. "Huey, isn't there a river near by?," she asked.

The red-clad triplet nodded and frowned "Why?"

"Do you have a rough idea where?"

Huey pointed over his shoulder to the right. "Northwest from here, I think."

Webby nodded and started to run in that direction. The others looked at each other stunned for a second before following the young duckling. They could hear the helicopter noises coming closer and closer. Outrunning it was not a possibility, that much was clear to them.

After awhile they started to hear the sound of flowing water splashing against rocks. "The water won't shield us from any heat cameras and since there are no trees, they'll be able to see us anyway," Huey huffed, completely out of breath.

In response to his statement, Webby flung a piece of mud directly into his face. "We're not here to cover us with water but with mud. It's not a perfect plan, but we might be able to throw off the heat camera enough to not be detected," she explained.

In less than a second the others rushed to the shore of the river and started to besmear themselves with the brown soil.

"I hope this works," Louie said disgusted at what he was currently doing.

"Don't be such a baby," Dewey told him, actually enjoying himself now, which earned him a disbelieving stare and followed by an eye-roll from Louie in return.

"Silence," Della said and pointed upwards. The helicopter was now starting to become visible, searching the forest with a bright light attached to it. "Back below the trees!"

The children did as they were told and that just in time. The searchlight lightened up the shore not even a second after the last of them – Louie – had managed to get under cover. "I really hope this works," he hissed to Webby who just rolled her eyes.

The helicopter continued to search the shore for about a minute or two before continuing its flight westwards. After the light was starting to fade, they all let out a huge sigh of relief.

Huey looked back up at the sun. "We can still try to follow it, but I doubt that we'll be back near the city before it gets dark," he said.

"We should get rid of this mud before we go anywhere," Della reasoned and just as these words had left her beak Louie was jumping into the river, trying to clean himself as fast as possible. The other four followed his example but unlike Louie they took their phones out and put them on the river bank before taking a bath in the clear water.

A few minutes later they were presentable again – at least one first glance. Some traces of the mud were still stuck in their clothes but that could be ignored. As the others picked up their phones, Louie suddenly realised that he had kept his in his sweater and scrambled to get it out. "Oh no," he complained loudly as he checked if it was still working.

"Looks like you'll have to buy a new one," Huey teased.

"I don't have enough money for a new one," Louie replied depressed and looked at his mom.

"Donald bought you your phones, didn't he," she asked and the triplets nodded affirmatively. "Well then I'll buy you a new one," she said and smiled insecurely.

The three boys exchanged uncertain looks. They all knew that Della hadn't had a job. She flew Uncle Scrooge's plane but the official company pilot who got paid to fly it was still Launchpad. And while Donald didn't have a high paying job – he worked part-time since they lived with Uncle Scrooge and he didn't longer had to pay every single bill all by himself – he at least had some money.

"It's okay, mom. I'll ask Uncle Donald or Uncle Scrooge to buy me a new one," Louie said.

"What? No, I'm going to buy you one," Della protested. "I'm your mother and it's my job to provide for you not your uncle's."

The children exchanged some more uncomfortable looks before nodding. "Okay, mom," the boys said. Louie was still going to go to Uncle Donald for a new phone anyway, he just wasn't willing to argue with his mom over it especially not now that they were lost somewhere in the woods, still pursued by some criminals.

"So we better get going," Della said.

Before the party could get moving a voice that they all immediately recognised spoke up and had them freeze in place. "And where would you go," Steelbeak asked them sarcastically.

His two henchducks were standing right next to him. He had his gun in his hands, pointing it directly at Della. "Don't get any funny ideas, Ms. Duck," he told her. "It's the children we want."

Della moved protectively in front of the ducklings. "You can't have them!"

Steelbeak chuckled. "Oh really? If you haven't realised, we know where we are and we have a gun while you have nothing. You're in no position to bargain for your survival. But I might have a deal for you."

"And what would that be," Della asked with a shaking voice, not really convinced that she wanted to know the answer to her question.

The rooster smirked again. "If you kindly step aside and hand the children over to my two associates, they'll not have to see you die. If you decide to fight, you'll traumatise them for life," he explained smugly. "And just as an information for the kids, if any of you decide to try to save her now or cause us any trouble on the way back – the girl gets it. We only really need the boys alive."

This answer caused the Ducks to gasp in shock and then to get enraged, especially Della and Dewey couldn't hide their fury. "If you touch her – ," Della started but Steelbeak just laughed her off. "There's nothing you can do about it."

"Who do you think you are," Dewey yelled and walked past his mom, who tried to hold him back. "First you try to kidnap us, then you try to kill our mom, then you probably killed that lady dog on the bus, and now you're threatening to kill Webby!"

"There is no probably about it," Steelbeak interrupted the young duckling amused.

"What," Dewey asked perplexed.

"You said I probably killed that lady dog on the bus. There is no probably about it," Steelbeak explained and removed the safety from his gun. "And if you don't want your friend to get the same lead treatment, I'd propose to keep your beak shut tight."

Dewey gulped and took a few steps backwards, directly into his mother's arms. He looked up at her and it was obvious that she didn't have a clue on how to get out of this situation either.

"Who sent you," she asked, trying to play for time, hoping against all sense of rationality that Uncle Scrooge would suddenly pop up and rescue them.

"Wouldn't you like to know that," Steelbeak answered. "I won't tell any of you as long as there's the chance that one of you might get a message to your precious Uncle Scrooge. Now get away from the children."

Della gave Steelbeak one more angry glare before looking down to the kids. She knelt down and gave each one of them, including Webby, a kiss on the forehead. "Keep them save," she told the girl. All four of them had tears in their eyes.

"No, mom," Dewey cried out and grabbed her metal leg.

"You can't go," Huey said, nearly crying himself.

"We can't lose you again," Louie added, crying even harder than Dewey and grabbed her normal leg.

"Oh, how sweet. Only your mom doesn't have a choice," Steelbeak mocked them.

If glares were able to kill, the daggers Webby and Della shot at the rooster with their eyes at that very moment would have done him in but luckily for him that wasn't the case.

Della managed to shake her two sons off and repeated her request at Webby who nodded in reply, deeply moved that Della trusted her like that. "Now go over there," she told the kids and slowly they backed away towards the two ducks standing next to Steelbeak.

"Good. Bring them to the chopper," the assassin ordered. He kept an eye on them to make sure that they were far enough away for the children to not see their mother die. He might be a killer but he was also an honest killer. When he promised his victim something, he kept it – most of the time. And the promise of not having the children watch their mother die was a promise he had no problem with keeping.

But not keeping his entire attention on Della was a mistake. The female duck suddenly attacked him, kicking his gun out of his hand and landing some good punches at his torso. Her metal leg hit him in the groin, a move that forced him to get to his knees. Della continued her attacks and hit and kicked him in the face, letting all her anger out.

This in turn proved to be her mistake. After the surprise of the attack had worn off, Steelbeak quickly managed to regain his composure and grabbed first one of Della's arms as she swung it at him again before also grabbing the opposite leg, hoisting her up in the air and throwing her down the river bank.

Della quickly managed to stand up again but it was too late; Steelbeak had already gotten hold of his gun in these few seconds. "To bad," he said. "You'd have been a good agent."

Della frowned. "Agent of what?"

"F.O.W.L."

The answer shocked Della but before she could say anything else, she heard a shot being fired. She tried to duck away but she felt the piece of metal hit her in the shoulder and she fell face forward into the river.

Steelbeak walked over to her and saw how her body starting to slowly drift away in the river's current. Blood was slowly turning the water around her red. Even if he had potentially missed her heart and just hit her in the shoulder, she was apparently unconscious. If she ever managed to regain consciousness, she was probably going to die of blood loss or poising before ever being able to return to civilisation, he decided and thusly left her drifting there. After all, she had hit him in his groin and for that she didn't deserve a quick and painless death.


	3. Chapter 3

**This took longer than I had planned, sorry for that. I didn't get the pacing right towards the end and I'm still not really satisfied with it, but I hope it's okay.**

* * *

"NO!," the ducklings cried when they heard the shot but their captors didn't give them an opportunity to run back; they grabbed them at their shoulders and held them back.

"You can't do anything for her now," one of them – Harley – said and the manoeuvred the children towards the chopper.

It wasn't the same helicopter they had seen before. There wasn't a searchlight installed, at least not one they could see. And the other one had appeared to be black, this one was orange. While checking out the object, Webby suddenly shrieked in shock.

"What is it," Harley asked annoyed.

"Nothing," she said quickly but the boys didn't believe her. She nodded to a mark on the chopper and their beaks fell open. It clearly said McDuck Enterprises on the machine.

"Uncle Scrooge would never – ," Huey started.

"Your uncle has nothing to do with it," Sam interrupted him and for that got a jab into his ribs and angry glare from Harley to shut him up.

The two henchducks forced the ducklings into the chopper and a little bit later Steelbeak joined them. "Your mom was quite a fighter," he told the kids as he put on his seatbelt.

Louie and Dewey were about to jump him but Huey and Webby held them back, angrily glaring at Steelbeak, their glances being quite homicidal. This caused the assassin to laugh out loud in amusement. "Quite the troublemakers, aren't you? Don't worry, soon you'll not longer be able to cause us more trouble."

"What is that supposed to mean?," Dewey shot out.

"That they're going to tie us up, probably gag us. Send a picture or a video of us to Uncle Scrooge to make him come to our rescue. Then they'll either capture or – ," Webby started but she couldn't bring herself to finish the thought of Uncle Scrooge being killed, especially not after what had happened to Della mere minutes ago.

"Very good," Steelbeak replied. "You must be the actual clever one of the group."

"No, that would be him," Webby countered and jerked her head in Huey's direction.

Steelbeak seized the red-clad triplet up and shrugged. "Doesn't really matter now, does it?," he said and laughed once more.

Webby was fuming but she managed to swallow down her raging emotions. Della had told her to look out for boys and that was what she was going to do. It had been Della's last wish and Webby would have been damned if she disobeyed the woman who had become a mother figure to her. Typical for Webby, who just as Dewey had a lot of outward gusto which served to hide her inner insecurities, she was certain that this view of their relationship was simply one-sided but it had been nice to imagine things while it lasted. Still, it made Webby feel proud that Della would trust her to look out for the boys even though her rational mind told her that out of the four of them she definitely was the most capable of potentially escaping such a situation as this.

She looked at the boys, all of them fuming with rage and anger just as she was, barely hold back by the seatbelts they had been forced into. "You'll pay for this," Louie suddenly said which made Steelbeak only laugh harder. "And who will make me pay for it? You?"

Louie was about to answer but Webby stopped him by shaking her head. Angering their captors was not the wisest thing to do, especially not while being up in the air with no possible route of escape. Plus, she needed time to think. She wasn't as clever or smart as Huey, or as sharp and crafty as Louie but she wasn't dumb either. And there was something about this entire situation that had the wheels in her head turning. It was if an instinct had sprung to life that was trying to tell her something, she just could not understand what.

Webby looked out of the window and saw how the sunset coloured the sky orange, and in the distance she could see the city coming closer and closer. She sighed and let her head fall back. They were definitely flying in a helicopter owned by McDuck Enterprises, but according to their captors Uncle Scrooge had nothing to do with it. And they were here because this Mr. Robens, who probably did work for him, called Uncle Scrooge.

Slowly she was starting to piece the puzzle together; somebody within Uncle Scrooge's company was working against him and wanted to eliminate his family – and probably him as well. And these guys were working for that individual or group, that much was clear. This also explained their equipment like the satellite phone and the infrared cameras.

Webby thought back to the conversation they had overheard in the forest. Steelbeak had ordered a penguin to do something. This meant that they were well organised and that he was apparently the leader. Given his appearance he probably didn't work for McDuck Enterprises. Someone like him would attract too much attention in an office. This led her to only one possible conclusion.

"What crime syndicate do you work for," she finally asked as the chopper was starting to descent, signalling that they were about to reach their destination.

Steelbeak smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know," he asked back. "But props for figuring that out. How did you do it?"

Webby swallowed nervously. "Well, you appear to have a clear power structure and access to McDuck technology and resources. The first one suggests that you are an actual organisation not just a bunch of random criminals and amateurs, the latter one is proof that you've got a mole in the company that gives you access to these things."

Steelbeak laughed. "Very good. Only that we don't have a mole in the company. We basically run it."

"So the board is in on it," Louie asked, faking shock. "I always knew the vultures were bad news."

"Not the board no, but let's say that the very top like them and your uncle aren't the ones with the real power," Steelbeak answered mysteriously.

"What do you mean? They're the ones who are legally liable," Huey replied making Steelbeak laugh even harder.

"Exactly," Louie said before Steelbeak could. "They're your fall guys. You've got people in several offices of McDuck Enterprises around the globe, haven't you? Hell, you probably even have some in Duckburg as middle management or something!"

"Very good. Only that this knowledge will not help you at all," Steelbeak countered.

Before anyone else could say anything, the conversation was interrupted by the pilot. "Sir, we're approaching the office building, but I'm not sure we should land there."

"Why not," Steelbeak demanded to know.

"There's police everywhere."

All the passengers looked out of the windows. The pilot was correct. An ambulance and six police cars stood in front of the building.

"Damn," Steelbeak cursed. "Take us to the warehouse."

"Aye, sir." The pilot changed the course and contacted their new destination that they were coming. "Sir, Scrooge McDuck is at the warehouse."

"WHAT!?"

"Yeah," celebrated the children but an angry look from Steelbeak soon shut them up.

An evil grin started to form on the rooster's face. "Maybe his presence won't be too bad after all. That way we won't longer have to persuade him to come to us."

* * *

The guard at the warehouse's parking lot had stopped Mr. Robens' car. "I'm sorry, but you can't get in here without any authorisation," the ice bear told Launchpad.

Scrooge rolled down the window of the back seat and looked outside. "Do ye know who I am," he asked the guard who immediately straightened up. "Mr. McDuck, sir. I had no idea you were coming," he excused himself.

"This is a surprise inspection. A situation has occurred," Scrooge answered mysteriously.

"A situation?," stammered the guard.

"Yes, but ye don't need to worry about it. Ye'll probably read all about it in the paper in the mornin'," Scrooge said.

"The paper?"

"Aye. And now, let us through," Scrooge ordered and the guard immediately moved to open the gate for them.

As Launchpad drove them onto the parking lot and Scrooge ordered him to switch places with Donald – he had no interest in paying for a new car for Mr. Robens since Launchpad was guaranteed to break it while parking – they could see that Beaks tried to get past the guard with little success. The parrot got angry and loudly asked the polar bear if he knew who he was but the guard simply shrugged, much to Scrooge's amusement.

Inside the warehouse they were greeted by another penguin. "Mr. McDuck, what an honour. I had no idea you were in town," he said. "My name is Leigh, Ronald Leigh." Scrooge and Leigh shook hands, and Leigh also greeted Donald and Launchpad the same way. "So, what are you doing here? Is this an inspection?"

"Ye could say that," Scrooge replied. "This building seems kinda, ahm, empty," he added as he took a look around.

"Yeah, you could say that," Leigh said annoyed. "After they found that cave under the platform, Rheillei told us that we were to guard whatever they brought up but never told us why or for how long. We don't even know what we're guarding exactly."

"Oh?"

"Whenever whatever they found got here it was already sealed away in boxes and they put it in the second hall," Leigh explained and led the party to one of the smaller halls in the back.

"Larry," Leigh said in greeting to the polar bear guarding the door to the room.

"Mr. Leigh," Larry replied with a nod. "Mr. McDuck?," he asked surprised.

"Indeed. Would ye let us through?"

Larry nodded and opened the door. "Have fun in there," he said in the same annoyed tone that Leigh had used before.

"Ye really don't know what ye're doin' here?," Scrooge asked curious.

"I don't and I doubt Larry does. But if you want to hear my two cents on this, Harry Pajo does. That parrot got transferred here recently by Rheillei as my second."

"Is he here at the moment?," Scrooge wanted to know.

Leigh nodded. "He's upstairs in our offices. We only work with seven people here at any given time. Renting this entire warehouse is one gigantic waste of money if you ask me."

Scrooge had to agree. One more question he had to ask the Buzzard brothers once he got back to Duckburg. After taking a quick look around, he walked over to a box and tried to open it. "It's locked," he noted.

"All of them are," Leigh informed him. "Believe me, I tried to take a look myself."

Scrooge frowned and rubbed his chin. "Have you tried to force it open?"

"The first one but not after that. I mean, I was curious but not that curious."

Scrooge nodded in response to that statement and took a look around. "We need to find a way to open this box," he said and ordered the others to find a crowbar.

Donald was the first one to return with one in hand. He and his uncle tried to pry it open but failed. This, of course, didn't sit well with Donald, who continued his luck to no avail.

Scrooge on the other hand tried to think of other ways to get inside the boxes. Whatever was inside must have been very important beyond even his own imagination – which was saying something.

Once Launchpad returned with a second crowbar, he and Donald both tried their luck together and it seemed as if they were able to actually pry off the top when Leigh returned. "A chopper is landing," he reported.

"From the oil rig," Scrooge asked surprised.

Leigh shrugged. "I don't know. But Pajo said that the pilot demanded I get you to the roof immediately."

This certainly got Scrooge's attention. "And who is that pilot?"

"I don't know," Leigh replied as he led Scrooge, Donald and Launchpad up the stairs.

All three of them were trying to come up with a likely answer to Scrooge's question. Scrooge himself thought that it might be his board – which would have been good since he definitely had to have a few choice words with them. In addition to that he started to make mental notes about who might be able to replace them if they didn't have a good excuse for all of this. And that excuse would have to be very good, he determined.

But not one thought any of them had did prepare them for the sight that welcomed them once they got to the roof. Basked in the light of the descending sun, an orange chopper stood on the landing platform, its rooters still moving slightly, and in front of it stood two ducks and a rooster with a steelbeak, dressed in a white dinner jacket that made him look wildly out of place. But the most surprising, actually horrifying thing was the fact that the two ducks behind him held the kids at gunpoint.

"What the – ," was all Scrooge could say to this.

"Kids!," shouted Donald and started to run towards them which led to the rooster getting out a gun as well, pointing it at Donald.

"I already killed your sister," he said smugly.

Scrooge thought that this might have been the dumbest thing he could have said right now because Donald's head turned red with fury and he started to shout his lungs out while jumping up and down, his hands formed to fists. But just as Donald was about to run at the rooster, the latter one fired a shot, hitting Donald in the stomach, causing him to fall down and hold his belly, hands quickly covered red with blood.

"UNCLE DONALD!," the kids shouted and were about to run towards him, but the ducks behind them grabbed them at their shoulders, holding them back.

"You'll pay for this," Scrooge threatened through his grinding teeth.

The rooster laughed at this. "Oh, really? I killed your niece, kidnapped your grandnephews, and mortally wounded your nephew. You're at my mercy, McDuck."

Scrooge narrowed his eyes and took a good look around. Sadly he had to come to the conclusion that the rooster was right. There was no way out of this one right now. Donald was bleeding out, with Launchpad at his side. Scrooge, in his shock and anger, hadn't even noticed the pilot running past him, desperately trying to apply pressure to Donald's wound with his bare hands. The kids were held at gunpoint, even Webby was no use that way. And the rooster himself was pointing his gun at Scrooge himself.

"Mr. Leigh," he started but immediately stopped himself when he noticed in the corner of his eyes that the penguin held his hands up in the air. "What the – "

"Nice to finally meet you, Mr. McDuck," said a white parrot who was pointing a gun at Leigh.

"Mr. Pajo, I presume," Scrooge replied angrily.

"Indeed."

"You see. There's no way out," the rooster said. "We're everywhere."

"And who is we," asked Scrooge.

"The little girl already realised that we must be a criminal organisation but not which one. Can you," challenged the rooster, setting Scrooge's mind into overdrive.

They must have been a very well-organised group with a lot of resources, powerful enough to infiltrate his company without him or anyone else noticing. And either his board was a member of them or they were powerful enough to even control the board through extortion or other measures. A terrible thought dawned on Scrooge. "F.O.W.L.," he breathed in shocked astonishment.

"Exactly," the rooster replied with a devilish grin on his face. "And finally, we'll bring about the end of Scrooge McDuck."

Scrooge seethed with anger. This was not going to be the end of Scrooge McDuck, he swore to himself. The only problem was that he still hadn't had a plan on how to get out of this tight spot. He had to rely on his luck this time it seemed and while it had barely disappointed him in the past, Scrooge preferred to have things under control himself.

His luck didn't care for that though and kicked in regardless. Just as the rooster was about to pull the trigger of his gun, they heard somebody running up the stairs to the roof. An out of breath duck opened the door and was completely taken aback by the situation he found outside. "Ahm, Mr. Leigh," he said uncertainly, "there two detectives downstairs wanting to talk to Mr. McDuck."

Scrooge smirked. So the police was there. Even if it only were two detectives this meant that there two armed men in the building who could help him save his family.

The rooster probably had the same idea as Scrooge and started to curse. He was about to shout an order to the unfortunate duck that had just entered the picture when one of his henchducks cried out in pain.

Scrooge turned around in surprise and saw Webby using the opportunity of this distraction to free herself and the boys. She had managed to get out of the man's grip, kicked him in the groin, thusly freeing Louie, and pushed him against his partner who consequently lost his grip on Dewey and Huey.

The kids sought cover beneath the chopper before making a dash for the ledge. Scrooge gulped. The building wasn't that high but high enough to not risk a jump without any precautions. "We're not gonna make it," he heard Louie cry and sadly he had to agree with the lad.

The rooster and his two henchmen followed the kids, turning their backs on Scrooge. A big mistake. The trillionaire used his cane to disarm Mr. Pajo and knock him out cold, ordered Leigh to watch him, the other duck to go fetch the police and call an ambulance and Launchpad to stay with Donald and to keep him awake while he ran after the three villains. Scrooge quickly managed to knock out the first of the two henchmen and in one swift motion to also disarmed the other, leaving him face to face with the rooster.

"Now that we're on equal footin', why don't ye tell me yer name?"

"Steelbeak."

"Fittin' name," Scrooge remarked and looked over to the kids – only spotting the boys. "Where's Webbigail?"

"She's climbing down right now," Dewey answered and all three of them pointed over the ledge.

Scrooge shook his head and nearly had to laugh. He should have anticipated the little girl to pull such a stunt, really. But he was not in the mood for that, mainly due to this Steelbeak having told him that he had killed Della and had shot Donald, potentially lethally wounding him as well.

Before anyone could say anything though, the two detectives arrived on the roof, their guns drawn. "Freeze, APD," they shouted.

"I'm not doin' anythin' besides holdin' this kidnapper and murderer here for ye," Scrooge replied angrily.

The two detectives, both ducks, took a good look around. "An ambulance is on its way," the younger one of them said as he confiscated Mr. Pajo's gun and laid handcuffs on him.

"You two, over here," the elder one of the detectives ordered. He clearly meant the two henchducks, the one Scrooge had knocked unconscious slowly coming around again. "Didn't you here me? Move," the detective ordered again and the one henchman who could still walk slowly came over to him. "And you metalbeak drop your gun."

Steelbeak appeared to hesitate for a moment before doing as he was told. The younger one of the detectives walked over and put another pair of handcuffs on the rooster as well. "You're under arrest for attempted murder, and if he's correct also kidnapping. You've the right to remain silent, everything you do say will be used against you in a court of law. You've got the right to an attorney, if you can't afford one the court will provide one for you. Do you understand these rights?," he recited as he marched Steelbeak off.

Scrooge didn't pay much attention to this to be honest though. He kneeled down and hugged his nephews before running over to Donald whose eyes were starting to close. "No, Donald, stay awake," Scrooge begged him.

"Uncle Donald," Dewey sobbed.

"Please don't go," Louie added, crying.

"We need you," Huey finished, holding his uncle's hand.

"I did the best I could, I – ," started Launchpad but Scrooge cut him off by holding up his hand. "We know Launchpad. We know," was all he said, hoping that the pilot would understand that he was thankful and not angry. The disappointed and defeated expression on the other man's face sadly did tell another story but Scrooge couldn't be concerned by that right now. He needed to be strong for his nephews – all four of them.

"Launchpad, Webbigail must be downstairs by now. Find her and bring her here, would ye please," Scrooge asked the pilot who just nodded and ran off to find the girl.

Only a few seconds later the elder one of the two detectives appeared. "Mr. McDuck, we'd need to ask you a few questions," he said.

"Can't ye see that my nephew is bleedin' out here right now? We can do this later," Scrooge told him and the detective nodded, handing him his calling card. Scrooge looked at it, it read Detective William Briscoe, and pocket it away.

* * *

The ambulance had come just in time. Donald had just fallen unconscious and was rushed to the hospital in a desperate hurry. Scrooge, Launchpad and the kids huddled together in the waiting area of the surgery department, with Donald being in one of the surgery theatres undergoing an emergency procedure. It was the middle of the night when the chief surgeon, a polar fox by the name of Gia Ray, finally got out to talk to them.

"Mr. McDuck," she asked and Scrooge nodded, desperate for a positive report. "Your nephew has lost a lot of blood."

This made Dewey gasp and Louie let out a little cry while Webby was trembling with anxiety. Huey tried to remain calm but he was sweating nervously as well.

"We managed to stabilise him after awhile," the doctor continued and all of them let out a sigh of relief. "He's out of the worst for now, but he's not awake yet. We'll now move him to a recovery room but I'd recommend keeping him here for a day or two even after he woke up. He'll be weak and in need to further medical treatment. And no, Mr. McDuck, Mr. Duck won't be fit for travelling or being transported all the way back to Duckburg either," she added when Scrooge wanted to interject something.

The trillionaire nodded and thanked the physician again before falling down onto one of the chairs again. He was a money pincher and he hated to pay for medical bills. In this case he was to make an exception. This was Donald, his favourite nephew despite all the fights they had. He was family, in fact he was like a son to him. And if it was true what Steelbeak and the kids had told him then they had just lost Della.

As soon as this thought hit Scrooge he was on the brink of a break down. He buried his head in his hands and fought hard against having to cry. Suddenly he felt somebody touching him tenderly at his shoulder. "Uncle Scrooge," Webby asked hesitantly.

"Yes, lass," Scrooge replied with a shaky voice of his own.

"What are we going to do about – ," Webby began but then trailed off.

Scrooge noticed her shooting an insecure glance at the triplets before lowering her gaze to stare at her feet. He knew exactly what she meant. "I will not believe for one second that this man got Della without – ," he started but then stopped himself. The last thing he could handle right now was losing his niece so quickly after getting her back into his life. And saying "her body" would make this possibility all the more real.

Instead Scrooge swallowed and proclaimed, "We will find her," before engulfing Webby and then the boys in one big hug.

When Della woke up she didn't know where she was. It looked like she was inside somewhere but she didn't fall asleep inside, that much she knew. She tried to get up and felt her shoulder hurt like hell. She winced and stumbled out of the bed she was lying in. As she did that she realised that she had some medical tubes attached to her arm.

"Oh, you're awake," said a female arctic hare happily. "Wait here, I'll get the healer."

* * *

Della frowned but remained seated on her bed, taking a good look around. She definitely was inside a small house made up like a medical practice. It wasn't the most advanced but she had seen way more primitive ones in her time. She tried to think back to how she got there but couldn't.

"Ah, you've woken up," she heard a male voice saying. She turned to the entrance and saw a grey fox entering the building. "You must have many questions."

"Yeah, you could say that," Della replied. "Who are you?"

The fox chuckled. "My name is Quamaniq, which means Beam of Light in your language."

"My language?" Della was confused.

"English," Quamaniq replied. "We're all Alaskan natives in this village. Most of the time we still speak in the tongue of our ancestors."

Della nodded. This explained some things like where she was or who the fox and the rabbit were. Suddenly a thought flashed through her mind that made her jump up in shock. "The kids!," she shouted.

"What kids," asked the rabbit. "I'm Ugalik by the way."

"My kids," Della answered. "Are they here?"

Quamaniq and Ugalik exchanged a worried look before shaking their heads. "Maybe you should sit down and tell us what happened," Quamaniq told her.

Della shook her head. "No, I've got to get to them. They were kidnapped by F.O.W.L."

"F.O.W.L.," Quamaniq asked confused.

"A criminal organisation that was thought to have been shattered decades ago. They were enemies of my uncle," Della explained while she ripped out the tubes and ran to the door. As she stepped outside onto the street of the small village, which consisted of maybe forty little houses and huts, she realised that the sun was shining brightly down on her. It was the middle of the day and the kidnapping had taken place in the evening. "How long was I out," she asked franticly.

"You slept for nearly twelve hours," Quamaniq replied calmly. "Some of us went out yesterday evening to see why there was a big helicopter searching the forest and after hearing a shot being fired, they found you unconsciously drifting in the river and brought you to me. I took out the bullet, patched you up and gave you some pain medication. I would have given you a blood transfusion but I had no idea what your blood type is."

"I've to get back to the city. I have to get to Uncle Scrooge!," Della said, not really paying attention to what the fox had just told her.

"Are you sure you're feeling well," Ugalik asked her concerned.

"Yes, I am. But my children aren't. Did any of your people maybe seen them? Three boys and one girl?"

Her two caregivers shook their heads again.

"Then please take me back to the city. Or I'll have to walk there myself."

Quamaniq sighed at Della's stubbornness. "Get Arjalinerk," he told Ugalik, who dashed off immediately.

"Who's Arjalinerk?"

"He's the man with the fastest car in the village," Quamaniq explained, obviously worried about Della and both her medical and mental state.

"Thank you," Della replied and tried to stand still – a task she succeeded at for about ten seconds before starting to pace around. She couldn't help herself. She was sick with worry for her kids. What if these thugs had done something to them? Had they harmed them? Or maybe even done worse? They clearly had no problem with threatening poor Webby's life.

Della swallowed and fought back the tears. She needed to focus and formulate a plan about what to do next. The first step would be to get this Arjalinerk to drive her straight to the hotel, hoping against hope that Uncle Scrooge would be there. If he wasn't, she was going to go to the McDuck Enterprises Offices, maybe he would be there. And if she couldn't find him, she wouldn't have any choice but to call in the police.

A couple of minutes later a red jeep appeared with a tall polar bear sitting at the wheel. "Hey, I'm Arjalinerk", he greeted her as he opened the passenger door.

"Hello, I'm Della," Della replied and jumped straight into the vehicle. "I need to get to the Pacific Tundra Resort ASAP," she added once she was inside.

Arjalinerk looked puzzled, first at her and then at Quamaniq, who just shrugged. "Maybe you should go to the hospital first," the healer suggested.

Della waved it off. "Nah, I'm fine. But my family won't be if we don't start moving," she replied, basically shouting the latter part.

Quamaniq nodded, closed the door and stepped away from the car, but not without giving Arjalinerk a look that told the bear to take her to the hospital regardless of her own wishes. The driver nodded and accelerated, with Della none the wiser about where he would take her first.

* * *

Wiiliam Briscoe was an experienced detective. He had worked in homicide for over a decade now and previously to that he worked for nearly an entire decade in narcotics, and before all of that he had been a beat officer for several years. All of it in Anchorduck. He liked to think that he had seen it all, but he was apparently wrong. A professional assassin with a metal beak working for a criminal organisation that according to every official record was long disbanded, and that according to every public record never even existed, was something new even for him.

"I doubt that we'll get anything out of him," complained his young partner Ian Logan as they both left the interrogation room at their station, joining their commanding officer, Lieutenant Barbara van Buren, in the observation room.

"I agree," Briscoe replied and sighed as he leaned against the wall. "This guy is obviously a hardened professional."

"You're don't say," Logan joked before asking the lieutenant if she had found out anything about this F.O.W.L.-organisation.

Van Buren shook her head. "Nothing. All I got since we started an inquiry about them are calls from Juneau, Washington, New York and even Geneva to drop this matter and to hand it over to the proper authorities."

"Geneva?." Logan asked confused.

"The United Nations," van Buren explained.

Both detectives whistled at this. "So they really believe this F.O.W.L.-story then?," Briscoe asked.

"Apparently."

"Even if, since when does an organised crime case immediately go to the feds or even some international police force," Logan wanted to know.

"Normally it doesn't but this isn't a normal case," answered a voice from the doorway, belonging to a duck dressed in a very fine business suit that must have cost him a small fortune.

"And you are?," van Buren demanded to know.

"Agent Foreman, SUSH," he replied and showed the lieutenant his credentials. "I'm here to take this man into our custody."

"You can't," Logan protested.

"Oh," Foreman asked lazily and folded his papers back together to fit them into his chest pocket. "I think you'll find that I actually can."

"He hasn't even spoken to a lawyer yet," Briscoe intervened.

"Has he asked for one?"

"No," the elder detective was forced to admit.

Foreman smiled arrogantly, making the police officers' blood boil. "In that case, I don't see any problems here. If you'll excuse me," he said and was about to waltz right into the interrogation room when van Buren stepped into his way.

"I'm sorry. But I can't simply hand this man over to you without verifying your credentials and your order to take him," she said.

Foreman sighed. "Fine," he said defeated and followed van Buren into her office.

In the bullpen the detectives spotted three imposing looking birds of prey in black business suits that definitely had been way less expensive than the one Foreman was wearing.

Several minutes later van Buren and Foreman returned with an angry and a smug look on their respective faces. This told the two detectives everything they needed to know – the spy had gotten the okay to take away their case.

Foreman walked straight into the interrogation room, ordered Briscoe and Logan to remove the handcuffs and then marched Steelbeak out of the room after putting on a new pair. "Thank you for your cooperation," he said to van Buren and her two detectives before he and his agents disappeared into the staircase.

"I want you to follow them," van Buren ordered.

The Briscoe and Logan nodded and did as they were told. From the window in the bullpen they observed the agents putting Steelbeak and then sprinted downstairs to take up pursuit immediately, only to discover that the tires of their car were punctured. "Damn," Logan cursed angrily and kicked the car's spoiler.

Briscoe was angry as well but didn't let that anger cloud his judgement. He was certain there was something that they must have missed. It hit him like a lighting bolt – the other suspects in the case were still upstairs. The agents didn't take anyone of them. Without even telling Ian what was going on, he turned around and sprinted back inside.

"Hey, where you going?," Logan shouted after him before following his partner back into their office.

Upstairs Briscoe immediately took a beeline for the holding cells. It was then that Logan realised what the other duck was on about.

"Who was this man," Briscoe demanded to know and grabbed Pajo at his collar, yanking him forward thusly slamming him against the cell's bars.

"I don't know," the parrot replied in fear. "But I don't think he was a SHUSH agent."

"Tell me something I don't already know," Briscoe countered, gritting his teeth while tightening his grip on the other man.

"Detective Briscoe," van Buren shouted, ordering her most senior detective to back down.

Briscoe grunted and let go of Pajo but not without giving him a dirty look that was meant as a definite threat if he didn't tell them what they wanted to know. "Were those men F.O.W.L.?"

"I think so," Pajo admitted, sweating heavily at this point.

"We were played, Lieutenant."

"I gathered that much," van Buren commented, not exactly pleased about this revelation.

"What now?," Logan asked.

"We should get to the McDucks. They'll probably be in danger," Briscoe mused.

"The best thing you can do right now is to evacuate the building as quickly as possible," a voice from the holding cell suddenly said, getting all the attention in the room at once.

"What," asked several officers in unison.

The man who was speaking was the helicopter pilot, a pretty plain and unremarkable looking barn owl. "I've been working for these people for a long enough time to know what's going to happen next. They extracted their top agent on this scheme, either to punish him themselves or to use him again despite his failure. But the rest of us, the henchmen and normal agents, we're expandable."

"Then you better start talking," Logan said and walked up to the cell.

"I am right now, aren't I," replied the pilot. "And you better listen. They will never let it come so far that either one of us can tell you anything of value."

"And how are they going to do that," Briscoe asked curiously.

"They're going to kill us."

"We can put you into protective custody," Logan said, earning him a hollow laugh.

"Even if you could. This is not about not letting us get to a trial. They won't even let us tell you anything right now."

"And how are they going to stop you?"

"By blowing us all up," the pilot replied. "They probably used their short time here to plant a bomb that is going to go off in the next few minutes or so, now that they're save and sound."

"Do you believe him," Logan asked van Buren.

The lieutenant looked at Briscoe who shrugged, not really sure what to believe himself. Van Buren shighed and then shouted, "Evacuate the building!"

The officers were on the move as fast as they could, some calling the offices up- and downstairs to leave as well. Briscoe and Logan got the F.O.W.L.-members out of the holding cell and led them downstairs onto the street. More and more people were streaming out of the old police building and some officers were running to warn the neighbours. Less than a minute later, before they could lead their detainees into a transport, they were caught in an explosion that made them fly off the ground and several feet into the air before the landed in the middle of the street.

It was absolute chaos. Some of the detainees and suspects held at the station tried to use this to escape, with one or two actually being successful. The F.O.W.L.-members stayed right next to Briscoe and Logan though.

"Gotten attached," Logan mocked them despite feeling quite shaken by what just had happened.

"No, but if we run off, they'll find and kill us," Pajo explained, sitting on the floor and hugging his legs.

"We need to warn the McDucks," Briscoe urged.

Logan nodded in agreement and got out his phone. "Damn it. The note with their number was in the office!"

"Call the hospital. They'll probably still be there or at the very least, they'll know how to contact them," Briscoe reminded his partner before starting to look for van Buren.

* * *

A little bit later, Arjalinerk parked his jeep in front of the hospital, getting annoyed with his passenger.

"I told you, I don't need to go to the hospital," Della argued angrily.

"Listen, lady. You've been shot and you decided to leave Quamaniq's care before your wound could heal properly. I'm not going to take you anywhere else until you've seen a doctor," the polar bear told her.

The two stared angrily stared at each other for some time before Della finally relented. "Fine," she huffed and jumped out of the car.

Arjalinerk sighed in relief and followed her inside the hospital. What neither of them knew was that they had been watched.

"How is this possible," Steelbeak breathed in shock.

"I thought she was dead," asked the duck who had called himself Foreman earlier furiously.

"I shot her!," Steelbeak defended himself.

"Maybe, but you clearly didn't kill her! You better fix this before we contact the High Command. This mission is already a failure, let's make sure that it doesn't turn into a bigger one," he said and had Steelbeak exit the car. "Kill them. All of them – and if you have to blow up this hospital," he ordered and drove off.


End file.
